Eh … maybe a lot of people are just coasting through life and not thinking too hard, just letting things happen at them. Whenever I see an advertisement (which is honestly not very often anymore, and generally happens on accident), my first thought is “Somebody spent a lot of money to produce this ad and get it delivered to my eyes. People don’t spend a lot of money for no reason; they must want some of mine, and I’m not going to give them any.”

That’s all ads are, people - essentially anonymous strangers - asking you to give them money. When you think about ads in those terms, it requires zero effort to not give strangers money.

Of course, a product or service is being offered in exchange for that money, but said product or service is necessarily less costly to produce and deliver than it is to purchase. There is always profit, and sometimes that profit margin is quite high. Remember, too, that “profit” does not mean the compensation that labor and administration receives for their parts in producing and delivering the product or service. Profit means money that goes into owners’ pockets, whether those are private or public owners. Those owners receive compensation simply on the basis of their status as owners, separate from any work they put into production or delivery.

That’s capitalism. When you buy a thing, part of the profit margin of your purchase is basically just giving money to the owners because they are owners. This means that the purchased thing costs an amount of money representing a fair exchange of value, plus another amount of money that you get nothing in return for.

I know this line of thinking has kind of skidded off the runway, let me bring it back: Always remember that every purchase you make in a capitalist system includes in part your giving money to someone who is very likely more powerful and wealthy than you, for which you receive nothing in return. When you remember this, it is obvious that most advertising is designed to increase that wealth transfer, and not to increase equitable exchange of value.